


Possibilities

by Owlways16



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Constructive Criticism Welcome, I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Summaries, Multi, One-Shot or Not, Sibling Love, first piece in 5 years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 01:39:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12097908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlways16/pseuds/Owlways16
Summary: If there was one thing she had learned si far, it was that anything could happen.Perhaps change wasn´t always bad.





	Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> Just a scene that wouldn´t leave me alone.  
> Still haven´t found the time to read the books so I apologize if I got some facts wrong.  
> Could be a one-shot, or not. Don´t really know yet.  
> Fist bit of writing in a while (like 5 years)  
> Enjoy.

If there was one thing she had learned so far, it was that anything could happen.

Even if her life was one giant mess, the one thing she could always count on was exactly that: possibilities. ´Anything that could happen will happen at some point´ she thought ´In one way or another´. And so she learned not to be surprised anymore, to expect anything and everything.

She was, after all, adaptable. She had to be. She was what life made her, a survivor; attaining skills along the way that she knew would eventually help her while having everyone around her underestimating her. It was a dangerous game, then again, no one in her circumstances survives without changing and no one manages that without a little danger and a lot of luck.

It was also terribly frustrating.

While she decided that playing the part of the oblivious, trusting girl had served her well in King´s Landing and that being the rebellious, unrelenting, unbreakable prisoner in her own home had led her to survive, she had failed to realize that the people who knew her before the whole mess started would take time to know and trust in her capabilities. Time they didn´t have, not if they were going to survive.

“You can´t go.”

“We need the Dragonglass if we want to have a chance against the Others” Jon said frowning, exasperated. “We don´t have time to play games or politics”

“So you think she is just going to give you the Dragonglass and offer her dragons to our cause because you ask nicely? We don´t even have proof that they´re coming.” Sansa replied.

“I´ve seen them, I´ve fought them. They are coming and if we are standing around squabbling like children screaming that life isn´t fair they will slaughter us all! Never mind dragons and castles and wars.” He was pacing now, raising his voice.

“I know you´ve seen them and I believe you, you know I do, but just because the lords and I do doesn’t mean that she will! She is a queen with her eyes set on getting the Iron Throne and the kingdoms that come with it. To her you are a usurper like Cersei! To her the White Walkers and the Night King are nothing more than a story we savages of the North tell our children to teach them to behave!”

This had been going for over an hour now in what used to be her father´s study, both of them arguing their point to the other with no success. They had abandoned the desk and the chairs on either side of it some time ago and now found themselves standing, nervousness getting the best of them.

She knew that she needed to play her hand carefully in this, she simply couldn´t let him go, not when the North needed their King, not when preparations needed to be made, ´Not when he was the one the people followed even though he would have lost them Winterfell for not heeding her advice´ She thought with some bitterness as she pursed her lips.

And so she decided to play her last card, for their survival.

Sansa moved in front of him, grabbing his shoulders gently but firmly, her mind noting with some amusement that he needed to look up to meet her eyes.

“Jon, please, the North can´t afford to have their King go south again, they remember all too well what happened to Robb, there is so much to do here and so little time to do it. What happens to us if she decides to imprison you? Or feed you to her dragons? Or burn you like her father did to grandfather and Uncle Brandon? The people need you here, you mustn´t go.”

He sighed looking down before meeting her eyes again “I know, but I also know that we don´t have the numbers to fight them alone, we don’t have the weapons to do it either. Ser Davos was right, her dragons can help us if nothing else and we can´t just send anyone to negotiate with her, she is going to be expecting me to go, to bend the knee.” Jon took a deep breath before continuing “And the second I do that the North will divide again. If that happens we all die.”

“You are right.” Sansa said and a little smirk formed on her face at the surprised expression on his face at her admission “But the lords will divide anyway the second you board the ship.”

He walked to the pitcher of ale that sat in the corner of the desk, pouring himself a cup that he drained in one go “I´m not made for this politics shit.”

“You are not.” She was smiling now, amused until a determined look settled on her features “But I am.”

He raised his head, listening.

“Jon, I lived in King´s Landing for years surrounded by people who wanted me dead or tortured, one simply does not survive there without knowing how to play their game, and play it well when defeat means you die. Littlefinger, for all his manipulations, taught me a lot more than he realized and the same holds true for Cersei. While the North can´t afford for you to leave, it can afford for me to go.”

“I am not going to send you to them so you can be imprisoned again, I made a promise to protect you and I have no intention of breaking it. You are not expendable.” Jon almost growled, staring seriously at her, nothing but honesty and concern in his face.

Warmth spread through her chest at the protectiveness her brother displayed for her, the feeling of being safe and cared for almost forgotten. “I know, but I am the best chance we have of getting Daenerys to help us. I have no intention of being anyone´s prisoner ever again” She was speaking softly “Besides, Tyrion will be there and I doubt he will let anything untoward happen.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed, thinking for a long time before he spoke again. “You are taking Ser Davos and Brienne with you, in addition to a small company of men.”

“Of course.”

“Then we will announce it at supper.” He said, noting the relieved way in which his sister´s posture relaxed and the small bit of triumph in her face at winning their argument.

oOoOo

Of course not even a simple announcement could go smoothly in times such as this.

Just as all the lords gathered in the great hall and Jon stood to speak the door opened, a pair of guards looking quite uncomfortable stepping into the room pausing only for a second as all the eyes in the room turned to them before one of them spoke.

“Begging your pardon Your Grace, but there is a girl standing outside and demanding your presence.” The guard paused, shuffling on his feet uncomfortably before exchanging looks with Sansa and Jon and continuing. “She claims to be your sister, My King.”

Sansa sucked in a breath, standing, not daring to hope. She glanced at Jon and they both started toward the door eager, hoping and disbelieving. The lords and ladies following shortly behind them to see if it could actually be true, if the pack could finally be reuniting here, before their eyes, just after they retook their home.

Jon and Sansa arrived at the courtyard and found a small figure standing with her back to them, glancing around.

“Arya?” Jon called, voice shaking.

The figure turned and they barely had time to look at her before she was crossing the distance between them and launching herself into her favorite brother´s arms. “I didn’t think I´d ever see you again.” Arya whispered into Jon´s hair as he caught her and embraced her.

“I didn’t think I´d ever see you again” He said one he set her down and looked at her before a giant grin overtook his face. “You still have your Needle”

Arya didn’t ever get a chance to respond before she found herself in another embrace, this one different and unfamiliar but not at all unwelcome. “I-I thought you were dead, she- Cersei told everyone you were dead after they couldn´t find you! I never dared to hope that you…” Sansa was speaking softly as if she believed this was nothing more than a dream. A wonderful dream and raising her voice would shatter it.

Although this was completely unfamiliar territory for both of them, with all their fights and disagreements while growing up, Arya was simply grateful in that moment to have her sister with her. She truly had believed that she lost everyone that meat anything to her and it taught her to appreciate her family all the more. Some things were more important than swords and bows and dresses and embroidery. “I thought I lost you too”

They let go of after a while, the cheer of their audience finally registering within their senses. Lord Manderly stepped forward and said grinning. “I believe that this merits a celebration, Your Grace”

Shouts of agreement went through the crowd as Jon laughed for the first time since coming back and said “Aye my lord, I do believe you´re right!”

oOoOo

Merriment and cheerfulness spread across the room as the people made toasts and drank in honor of the returned wolf. Although Sansa was very much aware of one stare filled with what she knew to be fake enthusiasm. She glanced from where Arya and Jon were sitting in the high table beside her to where the stare came from, eyes locking with those of Littlefinger as he raised his cup in salute an drank a gulp of wife before raising his eyebrows at her as if asking ´Well, what are we going to do about that?´

Sansa looked at him blankly before shaking her head, barely visible to those not paying attention. She would have to take care of that small detail before setting sail to Dragonstone.

She returned her attention to her siblings just as they burst out laughing again and she couldn´t help the smile that broke across her face, she was genuinely happy that her sister was home. That she had a little more living family.

But she was also curious and if she was honest, a little concerned for Arya. While it was clear that she was not the same girl that went missing in King´s Landing, Sansa noticed that when she wasn´t engaging in conversation with Jon, her or any of the others that claimed her attention, a serious look settled upon Arya´s face, almost expressionless, as her gaze traveled through the room, passing over every single face gathered there and every corner, studying them with the diligence of a person expecting someone to jump from a shadow with a knife.

She also hadn´t failed to notice that her sister had yet to take her skinny sword off her hip. In that moment their eyes locked and Sansa let a little of the concern she was filling to flood into them and she watched as Arya gave her a small smile.

“Perhaps it would be better to retire to the solar for a while, you must be quite tired after traveling from, well, wherever it is you traveled, Arya” She said softly.

“Yes, I would like that” She replied keeping the smile on her face.

“Then let us retire for the night” Said Jon as he stood and announced to the room that they were going, and that they were welcome to stay and enjoy the food and drink for a little longer.

When they arrived at the family solar they found Ghost lying down in front of the fireplace. The direwolf raised his head at the sound of their footsteps and went to greet his master and his master´s newly arrived packmate. “Hello Ghost, you´ve grown boy!” Said Arya as she scratched the white wolf´s head.

They took seats beside the fireplace and for a while silence filled the room, none knowing how to approach what the all expected to be a harrowing tale until finally Jon spoke, looking at Arya with a soft expression. “I´m really happy you´re here little sister”

She shifted her eyes from the hearth where she had been looking at the flames to meet her brother´s eyes. “I´m really happy to be home again, I- well I thought I would never be able to call Winterfell my home again. I only learned that you had taken it back from the Boltons a couple of weeks ago.”

Sansa took that opening to ask the question everyone knew was coming. “Where have you been, Arya?”

“Everywhere” Was the only answer her sister provided for a while, her gaze moving to the direwolf lounging on the floor. “After escaping King´s Landing disguised as a boy I was taken to Harrenhall, I escaped with some help but the Brotherhood found me, then the Hound and it almost became a game, trying to go back to mother and Robb.” A rueful smile overtook her face. “I was always late. Every time I was close to family it was too late...”

Neither Jon nor Sansa dared to interrupt Arya as she told them her tale knowing that, although she wouldn´t tell them everything, it was better than nothing and probably all they were going to get for the time being. They knew better than most that recounting their stories was painful and it would likely take years before either of them would be able to talk about everything that happened.

As Arya finished silenced settled once more in the room, Sansa and Jon processing everything their sister had told them and somehow trying to reconcile the image they had of the wild girl running around with a sword, practicing her shots with a discarded bow when no one was looking, defying her mother and fleeing every time she was supposed to have a lesson with her Septa with the deadly woman they now saw sitting with them. ´Feels like a lifetime ago.´ Thought Sansa with a weary sigh ´Everything has changed.´

“Are you afraid of me? Now that you know what I can do.” Arya asked looking at her sister with a blank face.

Jon, not exactly knowing how Sansa would react to their sister´s story and actions, not to mention the fact that he was still trying to wrap his head around the whole Faceless Men thing, tried to speak before their old antics had a chance to resume and send them all into a fight they didn´t have the time or the heart to have now, only to find himself interrupted before he could even fully get a word out.

“I fed Ramsay to his dogs.” Sansa said firmly, looking straight into her sister´s eyes. “I wanted him to suffer, to pay for what he did to me and to our family.”

“Did you watch?”

“Yes”

With their eyes still locked the sisters studied one another for a while before apparently findin what they were looking for in each other. Arya gave a small nod to her sister, her posture relaxing as if some weight had been lifted from her shoulders. All three of them exchanged smiles and let the conversation flow into lighter waters and for that night nothing else mattered, there was no Night King, no Dragon Queen, no Cersei and no sense of impending doom, just siblings basking in being together again against all odds.  
Yes, everything had changed but maybe they became stronger because of that, maybe they needed to experience everything, the good, the bad and the ugly and maybe it was all going to work out in the end. After all, anything could happen. Possibilities.

oOoOo

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.


End file.
